"So I went up on the hill at 9:30, according to the police reports, Leonard was shot and killed at 9:51. So I went up there and I stood on the spot where Leonard died. And as I was standing there, just being there in that spot, I realized that - I started to feel angry and scared and frustrated. And I decided that there was something I wanted to say. There's something important that needed to be clarified with the people here in Mendocino County. Something that deals with the root of the problem, with the foundation of the problem which created a situation that caused or allowed something like what happened last year on April 14th to happen.
"Because what happened that night never should have happened. Leonard never should have been shot and killed by the Mendocino County Sheriffs. He was simply walking home, walking out of Bear Lincoln's home. He had been brought there earlier in the day because of the fight that had happened - the situation that had happened at the gas station earlier in the day. Leonard was a totally non-violent person, he was a very peaceful man. What happened that day at the gas station upset him - when Neil Britton confronted him and tried to get in a fight with him, and actually hit him. And so he left the valley to get away from that energy, and went to Bear Lincoln's in Little Valley.
"When he was shot and killed, he was leaving Little Valley. I can only imagine that because he had been driven there by a friend earlier in the day, he didn't have a car. So he was walking out to try to get somebody in Covelo to give him a ride - give him a ride home, give him a ride to go pick up the children, and to go home.
"What happened was that he walked into an ambush. He walked into an ambush that the Mendocino County Sheriffs' Deputy Miller and Deputy Davis had set up in an attempt to apprehend the remaining suspect from the earlier shooting in Covelo - that would have been Arylis Peters. They set up an ambush to apprehend Arylis Peters and instead Leonard walked into that ambush unknowingly and was shot and killed by Mendocino County Sheriffs.
"According to police evidence, the paraffin test - which is a test they do looking for powder burns to determine whether or not somebody has shot a gun, because if you shot a gun there will be powder burns on your hands and on your body. They did a paraffin test on Leonard's body at 8:30 the morning of the 15th. The results of that test were negative. It proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Leonard "Acorn" Peters never fired a gun that night. He never shot at the Sheriffs as they initially said that he did in their attempt to justify having shot him.
"Miller's very first statement that he gave - between 2 and 5 that morning, after the shooting - he stated unequivocally that they shot - they fired upon and shot Leonard - because he raised a gun and fired at them. And he was adamant that this was exactly what happened because he said in his own words - this tape was played, his statement was played in court and I personally heard it - he said in his own words that Deputy Davis shined a spotlight on Leonard and that is why he could be so sure that Leonard fired on them and they simply returned fire.
"Of course he made this statement before the paraffin test proved that Leonard did not fire a gun. Now the reason that Miller would say this is because it's very clear that when they shot Leonard, they thought they were shooting at Arylis Peters. The reason I know this is because I've talked to the witnesses that were on the scene within 15 minutes of the shooting, because they were trying to flee Little Valley after they heard the shooting. They got scared and they were trying to leave. These people told me that when they first got there, they were asked many times by different law enforcement officers, to identify Leonard's body - 'This is Arylis, isn't it?'
"And it was at that time that Dennis Miller realized that he and Davis had not shot Arylis Peters. And therefore he's got to justify having shot an innocent man. And that's when he came up with this story that Leonard had fired on them. That's when the cover-up of what happened that night began.
"And he gave this statement in a moment of panic because he realized that they'd shot the wrong man. And so he said, 'Well, no, we didn't think this was Arylis. This man shot at us and that's why we shot back.' But it has been proved in court that Leonard never fired a gun that night. This is the beginning of the cover-up by the Mendocino County Sheriffs.
"This is the issue that I want to make clear to the People of Mendocino County. It's imperative. Bear Lincoln's life depends on the truth of the events of that night - that people become aware of what really happened that night, and that Mendocino County Sheriffs are covering up what they did that night.
"Once Miller became aware that his statement did not concur with the physical evidence, he changed his statement. He changed his statement so that it did concur with the physical evidence. The statement that he gave to the Grand Jury - which is the reason that they handed down an indictment against Bear Lincoln originally - was that there were two men. There were two men and he doesn't know which one fired because it was dark and all he could see was a couple of silhouettes and a muzzle flash. And so he was unable to determine who, in fact, had shot the gun.
"Now in his original statement in an attempt to seriously justify having shot Leonard, he said three times, that Davis had shined a light on Leonard, and that's how he was so sure that Leonard fired at them. Now in his second statement, there is no light. It's dark. All he could see was two silhouettes. Now this is not a slightly different version of the same story, this is a vastly different story. And it really amazes me that the law enforcement community feels that they can put out two entirely different stories and expect the public to not be aware of the fact that they are lying.
"And I think it's just that law enforcement is out of control - not just here in Mendocino County, but all over. And they feel that they can say what they want and people are going to automatically believe them. Because Miller's second statement contradicts two very clear points on his first statement. His second statement conflicts with seeing just one person, the light on Leonard. But another thing he said in his very first statement was - after Leonard was dead, and it got quiet, the firing had stopped, he said that he and Davis had emptied their service revolvers shooting at Leonard and then when it became quiet Davis said that he thought he heard somebody running off in the brush. And Miller also said, very clearly, that it was at that moment, after Leonard was dead, that he became aware of the possibility of a second suspect. And yet his second statement that he gave to the Grand Jury indictment contradicts that. And he said that he knew - that he saw two silhouettes right from the very beginning.
"Well because these statements are conflicting is the reason that when presenting evidence to the Grand Jury, District Attorney Aaron Williams did not play this first statement for the Grand Jury. The Grand Jury is supposed to be given all the evidence in the case. And they're to hear all the evidence and then they are to make a decision based on all of the evidence. But he did not give them this first statement. In court when Tony Serra asked why the Grand Jury was not given this first statement, Aaron Williams brushed it off and said, well, you know, Miller just gave his statement personally to him, that he felt that it wasn't that different from his initial statement, and so that it wasn't really necessary to provide the Grand Jury with this first taped statement.
"But to my way of thinking - to what I heard - they weren't at all similar. They weren't similar at all. And so the cover-up continues. And I think people should think long and hard about this. If Mendocino County Sheriffs have no qualms at all about lying about the circumstances surrounding Leonard Peters' death - you know, first he fired at them, and then well, he didn't fire at them, and you know they don't feel at all responsible to provide the public - and I imagine most people probably haven't even heard about Leonard. Very little was made of Leonard's death because it's a great embarrassment to Mendocino County Sheriffs. And they've told several different stories surrounding the circumstances of Leonard's death. And if they had no compulsion about lying about that, well then I think we should think long and hard about what they're saying about the incidents surrounding Davis' death.
"I feel that they're lying about Bear Lincoln's part in this. I believe more that Bear Lincoln is simply part of the cover-up. Jonathan Hill, an investigator that was sent here from Jackson Rancheria, investigated the scene, he interviewed people, and after his investigation, he came to the conclusion that it was very likely that Deputy Davis was in fact killed by what they call "friendly fire." In other words, that Deputy Miller accidently shot and killed Davis. When he submitted this report, he was fired. He was not only taken off this case, but he was asked to resign from his job in Jackson Rancheria.
"There are many of us who believe, Jonathan Hill included, that he was fired because he was too close to the truth. That he was beginning to uncover Mendocino County Sheriffs' cover-up - that they were not telling the whole truth."
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1997
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited